Coronavirus daily update: Tuesday, Jan. 26

The denouement

If the Trump era had been a work of fiction, the entire plot would have climaxed at the invasion of the capitol, and this period now would be the denouement, the winding down, when Trump and his insurrectionists get a satisfying punishment, the vaccine begins to ease the strains of the virus and the narrative circle completes when we realize our mistakes and move on to something better.

That’s not what’s happening.

Looks like Trump is gonna walk away from this impeachment in the same manner as he did the last: unscathed, energized and ready for a 2024 run.

Vaccine distribution is not going as smoothly as hoped, though the president just ordered another 200 million doses. Let’s hope it isn’t being delivered by the USPS, which is still a shambles.

And, of course, as a nation we’ve learned absolutely nothing from any of this.

The numbers

• We’ve had decreasing new-case counts for four days straight. That’s new! 3,978 today, making 727,423. With 8,776 deaths (+56).
  • 13.3 positive test rate, up three points from yesterday.
  • A new vaccination dashboard makes some sense of how it’s going in NC. Seems we’ve used 69 percent of the vaccines we have on hand, and we have enough to give second doses to everyone who has had the first.
  • It’s like 80 percent white people. I’ll dive deeper into these numbers as they come in.
• Guilford County sucks, with 645 new cases, 31,010 total. 355 deaths (+0) and 5,109 new cases.
• Forsyth County adds 133 (26,819) and 275 deaths, which is one fewer than yesterday. Weird.

A diversion

There are no historical precedents for what’s happening in Washington, so I thought I’d drop Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, or maybe The Manchurian Candidate. But you can’t get those for free. So here’s a 1962 thriller, The Brain that Wouldn’t Die, which is about a disembodied head that kills people or something.

Program notes

• Tonight we’ve got “Paying the Hostess,” which I think is Dutch slang for something. This one’s by the master Pieter de Hooch, 1670. Thanks to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s public-domain collection.
• If you’d like to help Triad City Beat, please consider becoming a supporter. You could also give us a like on Facebook and share our stories on Twitter.